Biden And Xi Talk, But Not About The Global Economic Slowdown, Crypto Exchange Zipmex Seeks Bankruptcy Protection In Singapore As Crypto Crisis Spreads, Chinese Billionaire Jack Ma To Cede Control Of Fintech Giant Ant Group: WSJ, Chinese Grocery Startup Missfresh Faces Cashflow Crisis As Suppliers Protest, Asias Taper Tantrum 2.0 Bears Chinese Fingerprints, Chinas Zero Covid Mess Is Infecting Asias Economies, Huawei FreeBuds Pro 2 Review: Sonically Impressive, Xiaomi 12S Ultra Review: Large 1-Inch Sensor Works Wonders. https://www.www3.planetcom.co.uk/keyboard-layouts Its still good enough today. The open source community maintains a port of Debian Buster (10.9) that you install alongside Android, and which uses the Android Linux kernel. Even if you skip a few years of upgrades, the jump in performance to the latest and greatest processor isnt going to make that much of a difference in your day to day use.

If they can get Android 11 for the Cosmo out soon thatd be great, but never buy something on the promise of future updates.

For newer packages, enable the backports repository. I think Cosmo managed to strike a pretty good balance here, though, but I want to stress that the Cosmo is not merely a smartphone. Warranty (Grey), Nokia E66 Unlocked Phone with 3.2 MP Camera, International 3G, Wi-Fi, Media Player, and MicroSD Slot--International Version with Warranty (Gray), Unihertz Tick Tock, 5G Rugged Smart Phone with Dual Screen Android 11, 2021 Unlocked IsatPhone 2.1 Satellite Phone - Voice, SMS, GPS Tracking, SOS Global Coverage - Water Resistant - Sim Card Included (No Airtime) - Prepaid and Monthly Plans Available.

The area where the software sadly falls flat is that its outdated, which is especially cause for concern on the Android side.

I wanted a mini-laptop that was a real computer for the longest timethen the iPad came along and it satisfied a lot of that jones, but not all.

First of all, its smaller than a regular keyboard, obviously, so it definitely takes a little time to get used to.

Sure, they havent backported all of KDE or Gnome (Im guessing Gnome may be a little more touch screen friendly? Luckily for us OSNews readers, though, the Cosmo supports more than just Android.

It comes very close to a regular laptop, with only the lack of an integrated pointing device being a real issue.

With all phones looking the same, its hard to find a company willing to stand out in a crowd of black rectangles. Plus, they were just FUN.

Rare niche x86 systems from decades ago tend to be better supported by mainline linux than ARM boards.

One Comment, Blackbird Secure Desktop we reviewed earlier this year, https://www.www3.planetcom.co.uk/keyboard-layouts, Huawei Mate 30 Pro goes official without Google apps, EU lawmakers, with eye on Apple, call for common mobile charger, KaiOS Technologies and Mozilla partner to improve Gecko engine on KaiOS, Internet Explorer 11 has retired and is officially out of support, USB installer tool removes Windows 11s Microsoft account requirements (and more), Microsoft still plans to block Office macros by default after temporary rollback, Google is releasing Fuchsia for the Nest Hub Max, starting in Preview Program. In fact, its entirely usable, and I had a total blast playing around with it. Aside from the cramped size, it comes very close to offering all the functionality of a regular keyboard, and while my personal typing style doesnt mesh well with it, the Planet team has done a great job given the constraints they were working in. Again, though, my hands are small, and if you have more average-sized hands, you might be able to thumb-type just fine. 2022 Forbes Media LLC.

Thats not cheap by any stretch of the imagination, especially when you compare it to other smartphones in that price range, but I feel like thats not a fair comparison given what the Cosmo is trying to be. Its too bad I couldnt test the external display support, because that would be an absolutely ideal use case for this device, especially for people who work in a variety of locations.

Except, not really. Finally, the device is priced a bit high at 665, or about the equivalent of $880. It sounds like the Cosmo addresses that, as well as adding backlit keys and a camera. Its still good enough today. When closed, the device is thicker and heftier than most other smartphones, but theres a valid reason for that: open it up, and inside youll find a full QWERTY keyboard with real keys. Maybe it was the novelty? The keyboards are individually spaced and offer good travel. The upcoming Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2, according to leaked promo images, can display a keyboard across half of its 7-inch unfolded screen. Id think it would be very annoying to have a keyboard in the way if you use the phone as a camera?

As it is now, some websites with large banners (such as Forbes.com) load awkward on a screen with so little vertical space. I did purchase a portable keyboard/mouse for my phone when I traveled to europe instead of toting a laptop.

Thanks for the very thorough and enjoyable review.

Lets take a look. It offers a set of very unique features that few if any other devices can offer, and youre either willing to pay for those, or not. Debian Buster has UAEthis thing has a pretty nice screenthis might just be the answer, if only I can find a suitable controller/joystick. That I can reach almost 80% of my best typing efficiency on a mobile device is a major benefit for someone who writes long emails on the go like me.

10mpx is very tight but gives you a little cropping room. It would be nice if this was prettified rather than being an awkward slab of plastic. Lastly, theres a button on the side to open up the voice assistant, and it has support for dual SIM, e-SIM, and microSD cards.

I love this device and its always a joy to use! Follow this author to improve your content experience.

As to be expected due to its pedigree, the device resembles a Psion Series 5, or perhaps a Nokia Communicator if youre more familiar with that line of devices. Apparently, what Ive always wanted was a handheld device that would do all my mobile computing/phone stuff but would also legitimately play Amiga games. Full disclosure: Slimbook sent us the Executive as a loan, and it will be returned to them.

Youre seeing this ad based on the products relevance to your search query. I used to be more tolerant of a mobile keyboard, not sure what happened. Im not exactly a camera expert, so I honestly dont know what to say about the two cameras on the device. One of the major and most interesting alternatives to Android is traditional Linux. Its 2021, and its time to upgrade your smartphone.

Despite this shortcoming, the Comsos Linux support is excellent, and it can easily serve as a small Linux laptop assuming you bring a mouse with you, since it isnt suited for touch input at all. First and foremost, the Cosmo is an Android device, and anyone who is familiar with Android will feel right at home on the Cosmo. The keyboard is backlit, and comes in a variety of keyboard layouts to choose from upon purchase. Yea I think many consumers got caught up in the megapixel wars. Of course, if you come in expecting the performance of a big gaming laptop youre going to be disappointed, but if you have reasonable expectations, you wont be disappointed. 7 stops is the range of slide film. I was able to find an app that forces orientation changes and got the feature to work. If that distinction matters to you, and youre looking for that convergence between your smartphone and your laptop, theres really not much on the market today to choose from.

This is roughly between what is printable and the quality of slide film or a modern digital SLR. Its not a smartphone its a small pocketable laptop with smartphone functionality built-in. Things like external mice and keyboard work just fine, though. But the keyboard Id want with keys I use more for cli work without crazy modifiers. I really wish that ARM could be supported as well as x86 is. Perhaps the Cosmo Communicator from U.K.-based Planet Computers and Unihertz Titan from Shenzhen arent throwbacks to a bygone era, but rather a signal of a comeback for late 90s/early 2000s power device? The biggest issue for me with the Gemini is a slightly mushy hinge, which makes touchscreen use less pleasant.

You can set up your own desktop the same way you would set up any KDE installation on a regular PC or laptop, and other than the smaller display, theres really nothing special or extraordinary about it. The secondary display which sits on the lid on the outside is a 1.91 OLED touchscreen. Anybody who has ever handled a Psion Series device from the 90s will recognise the look and feel of the hinge right away, and the design has held up incredibly well. The Android experience is generic thats a good thing and does exactly what youd expect from Android on a smartphone, and desktop Linux with KDE is just desktop Linux with KDE, albeit running on a pocketable mini-laptop without any compromises to what makes desktop Linux desktop Linux. Then the iPad Pro came along with the Pencil, and I was almost there (except writing on a slick screen is terrible, so Ive barely used the Pencil), but still something was missing I wonder how one would type letters outside of English alphabet.

However, for now, youre stuck with a three year old version of Android.

The aspect ratio particularly annoys me, as a taller (vertically) 3:2 aspect ratio makes more sense on a work machine.

A leaked render of the Fold 2 smartphone from Samsung. If its not mainline linux, what inevitably happens is you end up having to write off long term kernel updates, and that sucks.

My suggestion would to mark these as regular applications, so users can more easily uninstall them, without having to resort to adb. It allows you to perform basic smartphone tasks while the device is closed, and shows things like notifications, system toggles, and more. And the 16-bit graphics lend themselves to a small screen I wouldnt necessarily have a problem using Debian Buster either, but Im not a fan of being dependent on an older kernel, especially an android kernel, which is probably not going to get updates.

Is that even a thing under development? I dont know that Id want it as an every day phone, but it could save me from having to bring a laptop everywhere. Basically, the next evolution of smartphone is going to give us more screen space, which means more typing space. In fact, I cant imagine any other form factor being better suited to that particular rather niche use case. If you are more interested in a smartphone-first kind of design, you should probably take a look at Planets upcoming Astro Slide. It runs perfectly well on the Cosmo, but Ubuntu Touch is clearly still in flux with pretty much no application support, and on top of that, it doesnt seem very well-suited for the form factor of the Cosmo it wants to be on generic glass slab phone, not on a tiny laptop. The better the specification of the camera the more forgiving the camera is and the less skill required to take a well exposed photograph. My hands are definitely too small for thumb-typing, as reaching the centre-most keys requires an uncomfortable amount of stretching and grip adjustments. To maintain quality you need a larger sensor size which is why digital SLRs or larger are valued by many. For the price, I could play with a mac air M1 thats more tempting at this point. Its just too tedious and time consuming. I do wish the hinge had more positions than just fully open, though. Your choices are between an endless array of black slabs, and while you can technically choose between Android and iOS, you will have most likely made that specific choice ages ago, and switching platforms is hard. Standby battery drain is also problematic, as Id leave the phone at half about charged sitting on a desk over night and wake up to see the battery at 25%. Another example is a small application to customise the notification light patterns for incoming notifications, and the aforementioned application to manage the cover display. Did you try out kdeactive?

I obviously didnt hesitate to say yes, and after a few weeks of delay due to our first child being born, I can finally give you my thoughts and insights on this device that fills a unique niche in the current mobile landscape. Are Android and desktop Linux not enough for you, or do you want something even more exotic? Part of it is that modern games require such a huge investment of timemost Amiga games could be picked up in minutes, even the complicated ones. The Titan is a rugged phone with a keyboard. It shipped with a keyboard where half the keys wouldnt smoothly press and would always turn crooked, took several months and countless proddings to send me the addon case and hub (and the hub was broken when I got it), they essentially abandoned the device from an Android standpoint after one major OS rev update, and the promised Linux support was alpha-quality at best and didnt even have graphics acceleration. Also, Bullseye should be coming out within the next few months. If youre debating between the Cosmo and a generic 800 Android slab, Im pretty sure you were never going to opt for the Cosmo anyway. The square screen makes certain apps like Instagram load weirdly, but Unihertz has developed a clever three-finger gesture to force the screen to go into display at a rectangular aspect ratio (with digital letterboxing). You can also set up the cover display as an external touchpad, but while an interesting gimmick, I did not find this particularly useful. Im slightly less happy about the actual typing experience, though. The hinge is sturdy but only stays open at one angle. But still, in terms of pure speed it doesnt come close to what I can achieve on the Cosmo Communicator. The secondary display Cosmo calls it the cover display ensures you dont have to open the phone to make calls or perform basic tasks, which makes it a more than worthwhile addition. However, as said, if you apply more force for each key press than I do, this might not be much of an issue at all for you. Its form factor and design are closer to a small laptop than a traditional smartphone, and many of the compromises youll run into stem from this design decision. The problem is there wasnt enough screen space to make keyboards any larger. The Cosmo Communicator is unlike any other Android device on the market today. If these handsets came out a few years ago, Id say we could be seeing a comeback for keyboard phones. I would rather today have a thin and light laptop. Taking a handful of pictures outside in good light and a few indoors should be enough to have a reasonable clue. However a device like this would interesting since it could run the real deal. My biggest want would be aesthetics. Using the Cosmo over the past few weeks, made me realise just how much of a pure OSNews bait this device really is. Id readily give up most those pixels for a better low light sensor with less grainy pixels. The thing is sitting useless in my cabinet upstairs, because it is thoroughly unusable.

Youre paying this price just for the ability to type faster on the go, as this devices screen, speakers, battery, cameras are not on par with even a $300 Chinese Android in 2020. Top subscription boxes right to your door, 1996-2022, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Maybe its getting slow, it might be damaged, or your devices OEM refuses to update your version of Android. You may opt-out by. But for those who prioritize getting work done, its likely worth it. Mini Smartphone iTiny 12 Pro Max - The World's Smallest 12 Pro Max 4G LTE Android Mobile, Super Small 3" HD TouchScreen Global Unlocked Great for Kids 3GB RAM / 32GB ROM Tiny iPhone XII Pro Look Alike, Nokia 1.4 | Android 10 (Go Edition) | Unlocked Smartphone | 2-Day Battery | Dual SIM | US Version| 2/32GB | 6.51-Inch Screen | Charcoal, Nokia 110 4G LTE Volte Unlocked Single GSM 4G Worldwide FM Mp3 Player (NOT At&t Cricket Verizon Boost) (Black), Nokia E52 Metal Aluminium Business SmartPhone Unlocked Import--International Version with NoU.S. Discover more about the small businesses partnering with Amazon and Amazons commitment to empowering them. I hate having to treat ARM computers as disposable items because were dependent on ARM chipset manufacturers for updates . It pretty much supports every band under the sun, and obviously comes with WiFi (a/b/g/n/ac) and Bluetooth (5.0), GPS, NFC, and the usual complement of sensors.

Id like to play with one.

I did wonder if a point device can be added somewhere to the design of the device, but honestly, I feel like any possible solution would be far too compromised to be useful. Well exposed and blacks are black. You might wonder if you can use the keyboard when thumb-typing.

Below the cover display youll find a fingerprint reader which also acts as a button for things like accepting and ending phone calls. The Unihertz Titan (left) and the Cosmo Communicator. The main display has two giant black pillars next to it, but this never bothered me. Slightly dramatised, sure, but the reality of smartphones today is that all of them look and feel the same.

I want to dive straight into that keyboard, since its by far the devices most defining feature.

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